50 Shades and Blurred Lines Part 3
by CockEyedGopher
Summary: Just when there's a "Happily Ever After" - or so it seems - sometimes Life has other plans...


Chapter 39

It started like a nuclear bomb. The most vitrolic purging of venom most of them had witnessed in a long time; and some of the secondary security staff were ex law-enforcement. Cops. Prison guards.

When they'd gathered at the condo it was immediate; Christian didn't let up with the barrage of verbal abuse and recriminations until it just wasn't possible for him to continue.

Abe's dismissal was immediate and utterly humiliating; at some points Christian's bellows were so loud the main lobby staff downstairs appeared at the front door timidly to ask if everything was okay, and shortly thereafter, to ask, with a bit more force, if Mr. Grey would _please_ keep his voice down, and be mindful of the other tenants...

Next came the private investigators; they didn't fare much better. What it ultimately boiled down to was the obvious - _Find her, or else_. The endless, tedious, pointless questions - who else did she know in the area; had she mentioned any other family, friends or acquaintances_. Would she have fled for any reason_?

_Are you fucking deaf, dumb and blind? NO, NO, NO. _

Gentle reminders about a brother and a few sisters living across the country. _It was just me; I was all she had._

Repeated suggestions that the staff contact her family despite Christian's adamant refusal - he knew she wouldn't go to them, _this was just wasting valuable time_, she hadn't been on speaking terms with them for about two years; she was happy here and _wouldn't leave_...giving in almost immediately out of desperation..._If it'll bring her back, or let me know she's still breathing_...

Then the police, and their very cautious, carefully-worded replies - _In cases like this it's usually not foul play - perhaps it was a lapse in communication, a missed call or something. Maybe she decided she needed a change and wanted to move away without telling anyone_. _If 48 hours passes and she hasn't contacted you, call us._

Rage giving way to bargaining. Begging. Groveling.

To security staff _: Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't realize; I'll keep my voice down...Yes I know you're doing the best you can...Is there any way you can look again...I know you go off-duty in thirty-minutes, but I'm paying, and I pay well_...

To private investigators _: Do you know I'm a very powerful man; I can make great things happen for you if you find her..._

To police : _Yes, I'm aware that it's only been 36 hours, but this is completely unlike her...I understand that rules are rules, and that she is an adult...I have just cause to believe she's in harm's way..._

On the floor in a fetal position, six hours later. Writhing.

_She's dead, I know she's dead._

His mother; sprawled out, too still. Staring blankly at some point he couldn't see, not blinking. The lack of rise and fall in the chest. Calling, pleading - _Mommy please wake up_.

_Then the smell._

Images of a small brown, broken body. In a ditch; a forest, maybe. The landfill, perhaps.

The lack of rise and fall in the chest.

Tears.

Three hours later, a couple drinks too many, a bit out of control; impromptu, drunken calls to her exes, the usual suspects. Words slurred. Making threats.

A few more drinks. Business calls go unanswered.

An hour later, his cellphone springs to life again. Ignoring it, sitting on the living room sofa, gaze fixated on the television, even though it's off.

_The goddamn phone won't stop bleeting_. The incessant drone starts to piss him off - _Leave me the fuck alone can't you see I don't want to be bothered _- and he picks it up, eager to take out his anguish on whoeverthefuck is on the other end.

It's a text message :

**HOPE (10:05:03 AM)**

Don't fire Abe, I gave him the slip; I'm fine.

Chapter 40

Christian had been alternating between texting and calling Hope all day long; no response.

That night he lie in bed staring into the darkness, the sharp throbbing in his head from his drinking binge this morning, having finally subsided into a dull pulsing sensation.

His wife lay beside him, her front to his back, stroking the side of his head, whispering quietly into his ear. "...Everybody has a few career setbacks; you'll come back even stronger, you'll see."

She kissed his earlobe and a short while later, her soft breathing let him know she'd fallen asleep.

He continued staring at nothing at all.

Chapter 41

The next evening after work, he sat in the condo's living room, flanked by a couple private investigators, one a computer specialist. All three were staring intently at the computer in front of them.

Hope's laptop. Christian had a bright idea once he was lucid and sober. He turned to the tech genius. "So you think you can bypass the log-in screen and get access?"

"Oh, no problem. That won't be the issue."

Christian nodded. "It's bypassing the iCloud password that'll _really_ be a bitch."

"Very true. That'll take a bit more work. Plus...we're talking Apple Computers here, not some rinky-dink local business. If I got caught, I'd be fucked man but I know how to _not_ get caught."

Christian waved that off dismissively. "That's a non-issue anyway. If if came to that, I have some contacts over at Apple, I could call in a few favors. You'd be fine."

At this point the other investigator piped up, "If that's the case, why don't you just call them and ask them to just give you the info you're after?"

"Not their department; they're higher up in the food chain there than that. They'd have to call in a few favors themselves in order to pull that off, and with that many people involved, it gets risky. More likely someone will talk, or fuck up, and then they're screwed. "

The computer guru turned the pc towards himself. "Actually a hack-around may not even be necessary, if she's the type that always has her browsers save passwords."

"Go for it", Christian said, then turned to the other investigator. "Once he's gotten in and tripped Find my iPhone and you've got a location, you can get the name of whoever lives there, right?"

"Of course."

"I thought so. I'll leave you guys to it." He stood up and went in the home office, closing the door behind him and made his way to the desk, starting up his Mac. His eye caught the headline again on the Wall Street Journal in front of him and he hurled the damned thing in the trash.

**BILLION-DOLLAR MERGERS FALL THROUGH; GREY TAKES A HIT**

_**Business wonder-kid Christian Grey expected to lose ten percent of projected revenue this year; in addition experts predict a 30 percent loss in his net-worth due to fines and penalties**_

Chapter 42

"Ana sounded pretty worried when she called a day ago", Flynn commented as he and Christian both took their usual seats in his office the next day.

"I came staggering in the house drunk".

The good doc blinked. "Not like you, Christian".

"My kid saw me." He blanched.

"Saw you drunk?"

"No, saw me kung-fu fighting. _Of course, I mean drunk_." Christian snapped, then immediately felt like shit. "Sorry. Rough last few days."

"I know, Ana told me about the business dealings falling through."

"Not that shit. That's just an annoyance. A forty percent loss out of billions, is jackshit. I'm not thrilled about it, but losses is a part of business anyway, it's a crapshoot. "

"It's fixable?"

"Yeah, eventually I'll bounce back. I'm not ruined or finished by any means, but now I kinda do have something to prove. I'm working on it, but that's the last thing on my mind."

Flynn looked at him quizzically.

"Hope went missing." He clenched his jaw.

Dr. Flynn's expression said everything.

"Yeah". Christian agreed with it. "A matter of hours before I was about to file a missing person's report, I get a text message that she's okay. I tried to reach her afterwards, no answer."

"No wonder you got drunk."

"Before that, I was on the floor." He murmured.

A brief silence, then Christian continued. "My wife had to tell my kids I was sick when they asked why daddy was talking so funny. I swear to God, that will never fucking happen again. I'd die for my kids. That made me get my shit together."

"When did she go missing?"

"The other day, when all those mergers and proposals were on the table."

"Ah, now I'm understanding. You filed the police report?"

"Ultimately, no. I was too shitfaced initially, and when I'd sobered up, I got a shitstorm of calls from my lawyers and publicists. They told me to call her family and tell _them_ she'd gone missing; have _them_ file the report instead to prevent the story from hitting the press. So I did, and her brother goes, 'What the hell are you talking about? Hope called me a few minutes ago.' "

"Wow."

"Yeah." Christian shook his head in anger. "I asked him where she was and he wouldn't tell me. Understandable, considering he didn't know who the fuck I am. I thought she wasn't even speaking to her family anymore - that's what she'd told me. When I got off work I had some of the staff come over and hack her comp for me."

"Why?"

"I was trying to get access to her iCloud account - she has an iPhone. I knew if I could get in there and get to that app, then it would pinpoint her location on the map. I got her location, I know who she's staying with too - that fucking ex of hers."

"How did you know she even uses that app? I have an iPhone, and I don't." Flynn asked.

"Oh, you're a square, so that's understandable. But that app is probably one of the most downloaded apps available." Christian quipped humorlessly.

Flynn raised his eyebrow curiously.

"It's almost a business requirement that I know these things. Technology, trends..."

Flynn nodded. "Makes sense".

"Usually when you trip the Find My iPhone app, it sets off an alarm and notifies the phone owner that the app was activated. I was fully aware of that. I want them to know that I know where she is. At this point I'm just trying to talk myself out of heading over there. I'll probably fail at that." Christian muttered.

"Fifty shades". Flynn sighed.

"I'm nothing if not consistent", Christian retorted, his eyes flashing.

Chapter 43


End file.
